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Angelic parishioners participate in the Easter morning procession. -
At 6:00 am on Easter morning, as other worshipers gather in the baroque church of St. Francis of Assisi for Easter Mass, participants in the procession begin to arrive. -
Processioners will walk upon the tapete on Easter, and then they will be swept away. -
Angelic children await the start of the early morning Easter procession. -
Confraternity members in various costumes will participate in the Easter procession. -
The procession's soldiers gather. -
Crowds arrive for the 6 a.m. Easter Mass at St. Francis Church. In the background is the stage setting for many of the Holy Week events. -
A dawn view of a section of the special tapete, or sawdust carpet, along the Easter procession route. -
Banners are hung outside the windows of many buildings along the processional routes in Ouro Preto. The purple Holy Week banners are replaced by white and other colors. -
Banners are hung outside the windows of many buildings along the processional routes. -
Chocolates for sale in Ouro Preto. Candies are a big part of Easter for Brazilians. -
Townspeople take on biblical roles in the Easter procession. -
Townspeople take on biblical roles in the Easter procession. -
Members of confraternities dress in a variety of robes to lead the Easter procession. -
Brass music provides the soundtrack for the Easter morning procession in Ouro Preto. -
A Eucharistic presence in the Easter morning procession.
At 6 a.m., worshipers fill the baroque church of St. Francis of Assisi for Easter Mass, and crowds begin to gather outside for the procession, which re-creates much of the biblical Salvation history. The procession includes altar boys with bells, costumed confraternity members, a brass band, figures representing dozens of characters from the Old and New Testaments, and a Eucharistic procession. The procession walks up and down the carpeted hills, along a winding route to Our Lady of the Pillar Basilica. Immediately after the procession, the beautiful sawdust “carpets” are swept away.
After the Easter Vigil, townspeople work through the night to lay elaborate sawdust carpets along cobblestone streets in Ouro Preto. On Easter morning, the procession follows the carpeted route to Our Lady of the Pillar Basilica.